The children of Barbara Jean Thornton from a previous marriage sued their stepfather Wilburn K. Thornton for mismanagement of their mother’s estate after he transferred the home where the couple had lived to himself. The trial court ruled that although the stepfather, now also deceased, had indeed mismanaged the mother’s estate, the stepfather’s heirs were nonetheless entitled to a purchase money resulting trust in the homeplace. Since no such trust was created, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand to the superior court on the question of damages. The facts in this case are not in dispute. In 1980, Wilburn K. Thornton purchased a residence and placed it in his wife Barbara’s name. In 1996, the couple sold this property and, using both the proceeds and additional funds, bought a new house in Villa Rica. This property too was placed in Barbara Thornton’s name. After she died intestate in October 1998, her children from a previous marriage and the guardian ad litem of her child by Wilburn Thornton agreed to appoint him administrator of her estate. The probate court made the appointment in December 1998. Soon afterward, Mr. Thornton conveyed the property from the estate to himself.
In 1999, Barbara Thornton’s children from a previous marriage removed some personal property from the house and filed a claim for mismanagement of the estate, alleging that their stepfather’s conveyance of the homeplace from the estate to himself was wrongful. Mr. Thornton died in August 2002, before this claim was adjudicated. After one of Mrs. Thornton’s children from her previous marriage was appointed as administrator of her estate, the children’s claim came before the probate court, which found that the estate had indeed been mismanaged, but noted that only the superior court had jurisdiction to award damages for this mismanagement. Mr. Thornton’s heirs appealed to the superior court, which held that 1 Mr. Thornton had mismanaged the estate; and 2 Mr. Thornton’s heirs had a right nonetheless to an undivided one-half interest in the homeplace arising from “a purchase money resulting trust,” presumably as a result of his 1996 transfer of title to Mrs. Thornton. Mrs. Thornton’s heirs now appeal from the superior court’s order.
